Creativity Class in High School

SSIA. Art is a nice class, but art springs from a heart of creativity. We all have it, but it gets systematically purged from us if we follow the scan-tron world of mainstream education. Although there are pockets of schools that foster creativity, I think most schools would do well to bring creativity in stages. One crucial step could be bringing to the fore the using one's mind, heart and hands to discover the creative pulse that we all share.

Ideas are nice (as I attempt to show), but there's a lot of creative juice stored away in other places, and it needs recognition and fostering. Perhaps a semester class that has units the way science class does. Field trips, guest speakers, and final projects (ungraded?) to showcase the creative spirit. It needs a interdisciplinary push, a way to uncover the creative in multiple fields of study. Plus, it would be "fun". We all need more of that in school, for heaven's sake.

Repurposed Road Sign Canvas for Refugee Tents

At the moment, there are people re-using the spent billboard signs that are made of canvas instead of the old-school paint/wallpaper style billboards. They use it to make recycled messenger bags and chic purses. I like that, but I like this better: Keep the canvas in one big piece and send it to refugee camps with simple instructions for making it into a tent. It's waterproof, flexible, colorful, and recycled. The refugee crisis we currently see is nothing compared to the possible surge in the future due to natural disasters and a possible outbreak of mid-east warfare. Gimme (Give them) Shelter!

Neighborhood Native Art with geographical accuracy

People lament the fact that we don't have enough art in our lives, and yet it's all around us. It would be very cool if we could locate historically accurate artistic expressions and get some grants to do a small neighborhood art studio that specializes in that local artwork/craft. Bonus points if the native tribe of that area could help with the art.

Iphone Reader Scrolling

Although I do like the way I can flick the screen down while I read, I would like a feature of the phone to auto-scroll the text so I can read it without having to manipulate the screen every few seconds.

Computing Screen for Disabled Persons

It's hard enough for me to compute on a chair, with a keyboard. I got a glimpse of myself on a bed looking up at a monitor and thought, "Hell no, I would not like a monitor above my head during an earthquake." Enter the video bouncer:

Simple programming and/or minor engineering required for this. Make the image of the computer screen reverse and upside down, then bounce the image to a safety mirror (thin film of mirror material over lighter backing) above your bed. Voila, you can compute on your back, looking up at the screen projected above. I guess an even better solution would be to literally project the image onto the same location, again in reverse, but projectors aint cheap.

Okay, just as good would be the video glasses thingamajig, still expensive. Further, a foundation should be started to help people with disabilities use computers. Does Hawking have a foundation of this sort? Everyone needs computer and net access, for sure. It should be an inalienable right, frankly. Go $100 Laptoppers!

Heat-changing tub paint

Like the coffee cups that change when you put hot coffee in them, a tub should change to a particular hue when the heat is at optimal levels. Great for hospitals' birthing centers and homes with kids.

Sent from my iPhone

Discovered vs Engineered contentment

When someone thinks about what it means to be content, there is often a small part of us that secretly believes that if we twist our minds just so, we can "achieve" contentment.

I posit that you discover your already existing contentment rather than creating it. Take a look at the word again. The root is content. It means happy with what one has but also it means "stuff". If you will, stuff that already exists.

Sure you might "get" it atop a mountain after a satisfying hike, but I bet if you rolled back to the times that you felt truly content, you'd see that it was during some normal everyday moment, and it happened because you had the time to look around yourself and observe that the world was simply working the way it should.

You had some basic needs met (Maslow) and you were able to step back for a moment and simplify your needs further. Slowing down and being aware probably facilitated the moment of acute contentment.

It follows then that the more slow observational moments you can string together, the higher the likelihood of feeling/discovering contentment.

Slowing down, then is the good idea here.